The inspiring and revelatory autobiography of the
defense secretary and CIA director who led the intelligence war that killed Bin
Laden, among many important roles in a legendary career

It could be said that Leon
Panetta has had two of the most consequential careers of any American public
servant in the past fifty years. His first career, beginning as an army
intelligence officer and including a distinguished run as one of Congress’ most
powerful and respected members, lasted thirty-five years and culminated in his
transformational role as Clinton’s budget czar and White House chief of staff.
He then “retired” to establish the Panetta Institute with his wife of fifty
years, Sylvia; to serve on the Iraq Study Group; and to protect his beloved
California coastline. But in 2009, he accepted what many said was a thankless
task: returning to public office as the director of the CIA, taking it from a
state of turmoil after the Bush-era torture debates and moving it back to the
vital center of America’s war against Al Qaeda, including the campaign that led
to the killing of Osama bin Laden. And then, in the wake of bin Laden’s death,
Panetta became the US secretary of defense, inheriting two troubled wars in a
time of austerity and painful choices.

Like his career, Worthy Fights is a reflection of Panetta’s values. It is imbued with
the frank, grounded, and often quite funny spirit of a man who never lost touch
with where he came from: his family’s walnut farm in beautiful Carmel Valley,
California. It is also a testament to a lost kind of political leadership,
which favors progress and duty to country over partisanship. Panetta is a
Democrat who pushed for balanced budgets while also expanding care for the
elderly and sick; a devout Catholic who opposes the death penalty but had to
weigh every drone strike from 2009 through 2011. Throughout his career, Panetta’s
polestar has been his belief that a public servant’s real choice is between
leadership or crisis. Troubles always come about through no fault of one’s own,
but most can be prevented with courage and foresight.

As always, Panetta calls them
as he sees them in Worthy Fights. Suffused with its author’s decency and stubborn
common sense, the book is an epic American success story, a great political
memoir, and a revelatory view onto many of the great figures and events of our
time.

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Quotes & Awards

“I can’t think of a single Democrat
and only a handful of Republicans who have held as many blue ribbon positions
in both Congress and the executive branch as [Panetta] has. And he can claim
substantial accomplishments: saving the food stamp program, masterminding the
plan to kill Osama bin Laden, helping lead an effective war on terrorism,
managing vast cuts in Pentagon spending without political and bureaucratic
turmoil…Young people searching for the role model of a public servant will find
few as good as Panetta, and…they will discover in Worthy Fights…a playbook for how to behave with integrity in a city
with limited virtue.”

New York Times Book Review

“Worthy Fights is Panetta’s addition to the Cabinet bookshelf, and
it’s very readable, with the frank descriptions of personalities and events
that distinguish this genre at its best.”

Washington Post

“In the past twenty-five years,
Leon Panetta has been working near the very center of Washington power circles…In
this vital, detailed autobiography, he describes his long high-level public
service and all the challenges, decision-making processes, successes, and
setbacks that he encountered.”

Barnes&Noble.com, editorial review

“An insider’s perspective that is
suffused with insight, intelligence, and integrity. Panetta, the son of Italian
immigrants, presents himself quite convincingly as an American patriot
committed to the nation’s fundamental principles…Anyone who wants to read about
a career in public service and experience at the upper echelons of national
politics should reason this account of a principled, pragmatic, politician with
energy, talent, humor, and relish for the necessary, well-timed profane look
into life in the arena.”

Library Journal

“Panetta offers a valuable portrait
of how things get done in Washington—cautiously, like this memoir, and with
exquisite calculation.”

Kirkus Reviews

“Politicians are generally not seen
as candid and unpretentious, but this audiobook presents former Congressman and
CIA director Leon Panetta as sincere and approachable. His story is quite
American, and his accomplishments are many. Panetta reads his own book in a
clear, pleasant voice; his pace allows listeners to follow his story with ease.
Throughout his political career, Panetta presented himself as a genuine man of
the people, and that view of himself comes through in this book.”

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